Install Jetbrains GoLand Go IDE on Ubuntu

GoLand is an amazing Go IDE by JetBrains. If you love other JetBrains IDEs then, you will love GoLand as well. GoLand will improve your Go development workflow with it’s amazing features such as intelligent auto completion, syntax highlighting, code snippets etc. In this article, I will show you how to install GoLand Go IDE on Ubuntu. So, let’s get started.

Installing Go Programming Language on Ubuntu:

In order to run Go programs with GoLand Go IDE, you must have Go programming language installed on your machine.

I’ve written a dedicated article on installing Go programming language on Ubuntu. If you don’t have Go programming language installed on your Ubuntu machine already, you may check it out at https://linuxhint.com/install-golang-ubuntu/

Downloading GoLand:

GoLand is not available in the official package repository of Ubuntu. But, you can easily download GoLand from the official package repository of JetBrains and install it on Ubuntu.

First, visit the official website of JetBrains at https://www.jetbrains.com. Then, go to Tools > GoLand as marked in the screenshot below.

Now, click on Download.

Make sure Linux is selected. Then, click on DOWNLOAD.’

Your browser should prompt you to download GoLand archive. Select Save File and click on OK.

Your download should start. It may take a while to complete.

Installing and Configuring GoLand:

Once the download is complete, you can install GoLand from the command line interface.

First, navigate to the directory where you downloaded GoLand archive with the following command:

$ cd ~/Downloads

As you can see, the file I just downloaded is here.

Now, run the following command to install GoLand in /opt directory:

$ sudotar xzf goland-2018.3.2.tar.gz -C/opt

NOTE: If you want to install GoLand somewhere other than /opt directory, just replace /opt with the directory path where you want to install GoLand.

Now, type in your login password and press <Enter>. GoLand should be installed.

As you can see, a new directory is created inside the /opt directory. Note the directory name. It may be different by the time you read this article. Make sure to replace it with yours from now on.

You have to run GoLand from the command line for the first time. Run GoLand as follows:

$ /opt/GoLand-2018.3.2/bin/goland.sh

As you’re running GoLand for the first time, you may not have any settings to import. So, select Do not import settings and click on OK.

Now, you have to accept the GoLand User Agreement. To do that, select I confirm that I have read and accept the terms of this User Agreement and click on Continue.

You may not may not want to share usage data with JetBrains. Click on any of the buttons depending on whether you want to share GoLand usage data with JetBrains or not.

Now, you have to activate GoLand. To do that, you have to buy a license for GoLand from JetBrains. Once you have the license, you can type in the credentials here and activate GoLand.

If you want to try out GoLand before you buy it, then select Evaluate for free and click on Evaluate. You can try out GoLand for 30 days as of the time of this writing.

GoLand is being loaded.

This is the dashboard of GoLand. From here you can create new projects and manage your existing projects.

Now, you should create a Desktop shortcut of GoLand. This way, you can launch GoLand from the Application Menu of Ubuntu. To do that, click on Configure.

Then, select Create Desktop Entry.

Now, check Create the entry for all users (requires superuser privileges) checkbox and click on OK.

Now, type in the password of your login user and click on Authenticate.

GoLand desktop shortcut should be created as you can see in the screenshot below. Now, you can easily run GoLand from the Application Menu of Ubuntu.

Creating a Go Project with GoLand:

In this section, I will show you how to create a new Go project with GoLand and run a simple Go program.

First, start GoLand and click on New Project.

Now, select Go from the list and make sure the project Location (where all the project files will be saved) and GOROOT is selected correctly. Then, click on Create.

A new Go project will be created.

Now, create a new file hello.go and type in the following lines of codes.

Now, press <Alt> + <Shift> + <F10> or go to Run > Run… and then select hello.go from the list as shown in the screenshot below.

The Go source file should run. As you can see, the correct output is displayed.

So, that’s how you install GoLand Go IDE on Ubuntu. Thanks for reading this article.

About the author

Shahriar Shovon

Freelancer & Linux System Administrator. Also loves Web API development with Node.js and JavaScript. I was born in Bangladesh. I am currently studying Electronics and Communication Engineering at Khulna University of Engineering & Technology (KUET), one of the demanding public engineering universities of Bangladesh.